Michael Stuhlbarg Joins the Cast of Marvel’s ‘Doctor Strange’

With Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tilda Swinton, Rachel McAdams and Mads Mikkelsen, you could be forgiven for thinking that the cast of Marvel’s Doctor Strange could not possible get any better. But then, Michael Stuhlbarg joins the cast, and you are proven wrong.

According to Variety, Stuhlbarg has joined the cast of Marvel’s next film as Dr. Nicodemus West, a colleague and sometimes rival of Doctor Stephen Strange and the surgeon who saved Strange’s life after a car accident. Though he was able to save his life, West was unable to repair the nerve damage in Strange’s hands, leaving Doctor Strange unable to continue as a surgeon. This would leave West wracked with guilt and would later train in the mystic arts with the Ancient One (though that storyline is probably left to sequels).

Besides Cumberbatch as Strange himself, Ejiofor will play Baron Mordo (a future villain), Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One and Mads Mikkelsen as the film’s villain, which has yet to be announced, but is rumored to be Dormammu.

Stuhlbarg, who can currently be seen in Steve Jobs, will join the rest of the cast in London this December as Doctor Strange begins filming.